#Compare fmperception to baseelements software
#Compare fmperception to baseelements code

He is a graduate of a software development program who had never launched FileMaker before joining us, but is a trained developer, so he has above average technical expertise. For us that meant using an apprentice developer.įor us this year that meant turning to Alex Wolford. We also wanted the person doing the work to be somewhat representative of the typical deployer.

We wanted as close to a real world test as we could get, without dedicating an inordinate amount internal resources to it. So to share our review, let me first share how we will go about the testing, what we will be doing, and what we are going to be using as metrics to evaluate. They will usually take the Database Design Report (or DDR) and sort through all the data FileMaker gives us and display it in a more easily readable and searchable interface.

#Compare fmperception to baseelements code

FileMaker gives us a great development environment, with a lot of flexibility, but when you want to see everywhere in your system you reference a single field, it can get tricky.Īnalysis tools give us as developers and database administrators a way to sort through code stored in a myriad of places and get clear answers.

There are scripts, fields layouts, relationships, custom menus, account, privilege sets, custom functions, tool tips, plugins and a variety of other places that code, logic and business rules can exist in a complex FileMaker system. I thought it would benefit us as a firm to do an internal review of the DDR analysis products there were for the purposes of choosing one or more tools we could standardize on to use internally. Over the next few posts I’ll share our results with everyone else in case they benefit anyone else.įor those of you who aren’t familiar with what the FileMaker analysis tools do, let me provide a brief explanation.įileMaker can be a complex development environment. I have been familiar with the analysis tools that have been developed and released over the years, but to be honest, I haven’t looked closely at them since about version 14 of FileMaker. We are starting to see more and more complex systems and have taken over a couple large internally developed projects in the last few years. FileMaker as a development platform has grown over the 20+ years we have been using it professionally.